George II. to Pitt, "you have taught me to look for the sense of my people in another place than the House of Commons."

Our investigations must have convinced us that at the period which we have now reached the position of a Prime Minister was a most complicated one. It had been comparatively simple when he was responsible to the King alone. It became simpler again when there was no direct responsibility to any one save the House of Commons, through which the voice of the people might make itself heard. But the minister who, in the eighteenth century, was obliged to please the King, both Houses of Parliament, and the people at large, all four of whom were liable to be at variance, found it no easy task.

CHAPTER VIII

INTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE CABINET UNDER THE FIRST TWO GEORGES

-New

Rapid development of the office of Prime Minister-No Prime Minister under George I.-The firm Townshend and Walpole - Intrigues of Carteret - He loses his position as Secretary of State - The firm becomes Walpole and TownshendResignation of Townshend — Supremacy of Walpole — Yet he feels obliged to disclaim the title of Prime Minister- Wilmington First Lord of the Treasury, but not Prime Minister castle disputes Pelham's right to the premiership — Opposition of Carteret to Pelham - First use of the noun Premier - The Pelham ministry a triangular arrangement - Pitt shares the power with Newcastle - The Cabinet does not resign in a body -The Cabinet as a whole not always consulted - Lack of unanimity - Walpole strives to enforce unanimity.

HEN we come to consider the internal relations

WH

of the Cabinet during this period, we notice, in the first place, that the inability of the foreign kings to govern necessitated a rapid development in the office of Prime Minister. For in order that business might be transacted to advantage, either in the Cabinet or in Parliament, an active, recognized leader was necessary.

Yet throughout the reign of George I. it would hardly be correct to say that there was such an official as a first minister. While the King was still on the Continent, Townshend was appointed Secretary of State with power to choose his colleagues. This power was doubtless given to him because of the King's ignorance of English politics and English statesmen. It designated him as first minister as no minister had ever been thus

designated before. But Townshend was not at all calculated to fill such a position. His abilities were but mediocre, and in the Cabinet of which he was supposed to be the leader there were a number of statesmen abler than he.

The dissensions in this Cabinet, and its consequent remodelling in 1716 and 1717, have already been recounted. These dissensions were inevitable. For nothing was to be feared from the Tories. And in political life, where the enemy is so weak that the necessity of concentrated action against it is not felt, disagreements

"The

1 Nor was there any intention that there should be one. breaking down of the great offices of state by throwing them into commission, and last among them of the Lord High Treasurership after the time of Harley, Earl of Oxford, tended, and may probably have been meant, to prevent or retard the formation of a recognized chiefship in the ministry, which even now we have not learned to designate by a true English word; though the use of the imported phrase 'premier' is at least as old as the poetry of Burns." GLADSTONE in North American Review, Vol. 127, p. 206.

commonly arise among friends.

Not only were these

divisions natural, but they were also beneficial. To the Whigs, their numerous leaders were a source of weakness. That the party should attain the unity and strength required for efficient action, it was necessary that some of these leaders should be either killed politically, or forced into opposition.

The dismissal of Townshend and the resignation of Walpole left Stanhope and Sunderland to divide the power between them. They were able to get on with a certain amount of amity, but neither could be considered first minister. They formed a partnership in which neither party would allow any special superiority to the other.

It is customary to date the administration of Sir Robert Walpole from his return to power in 1721. Yet Walpole had been in office for some years before it was correct to speak of him as Prime Minister. It was, as he himself said, a firm to which the government of England had been intrusted, and at first this firm was Townshend and Walpole, rather than Walpole and Townshend. For office was still dependent chiefly upon Court favor, and it was Townshend who had this favor.

It was some time before the ascendency even of the firm was undisputed. Carteret was Townshend's colleague as Secretary of State. His appointment had been. the last official act of Sunderland. He therefore re

garded himself as the representative of the Sunderland faction of the Whig party. He declared that inasmuch as he did not owe his appointment to Townshend, he did not intend to submit to his guidance. It was his aim to direct the entire foreign policy of England. Owing partly to the fact that he alone among the ministers could speak German, and partly to the fact that his foreign policy agreed with his master's, he had the ear of the King. But through the failure of an intrigue to ingratiate himself still further with the Court, he lost his position, and Townshend and Walpole were rid of a dangerous rival. The King's favorite mistress, the Duchess of Kendal, was the friend of Townshend, and through Townshend, of Walpole. To balance this, Carteret strove to secure Madame de Platen, the other mistress. This lady had a niece who was to marry the young French nobleman, Count de St. Florentin. Carteret determined to win the favor of Madame de Platen, by an attempt to secure from the French government a dukedom for the father of the bridegroom elect. He therefore instructed the British envoy at Paris, Sir Luke Schaub, to do what he could in that direction. Schaub was unsuccessful. His failure was due largely to the interference of Bolingbroke. It is interesting to observe that the man who was to be the ablest opponent of the system which Walpole was to build up was instrumental in removing the chief obstacle in the way of Walpole's